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Olivier Giroud
‘If we carry on like this then we will be difficult to beat,’ said Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud, who scored their first goal against Everton. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
‘If we carry on like this then we will be difficult to beat,’ said Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud, who scored their first goal against Everton. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arsenal have belief to win Premier League, says Arsène Wenger

This article is more than 8 years old
‘You have to convince the players that you have to work hard,’ says manager
2-1 victory over Everton at the Emirates Stadium was third successive victory

It may be more than a decade since he has done it but Arsène Wenger still knows what is required to win a Premier League title. So after a week in which Arsenal recorded three successive victories, including the famous win against Bayern Munich that has revitalised their Champions League campaign, the Frenchman’s analysis of his team’s latest performance against Everton was instructive.

“They are all on board and they have the belief,” Wenger said. “Cazorla won many balls and blocked many tackles, even Özil. Once you have that in the team, it is not easy to get it, but it shows the belief is there and then you need enough humility to keep it in there. You need to convince the players that you have to work hard to win football games in the Premier League and that you need all 11 to do that.”

Having started the season at home by losing to West Ham United, Arsenal went top on Saturday night – albeit only until Manchester City took a point from yesterday’s derby – for the first time since February 2014. Two moments of high quality inside three minutes, courtesy of the assists from Mesut Özil and Santi Cazorla for Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny, eventually settled this match, although they required a late save by Petr Cech from Gerard Deulofeu to suppress a spirited Everton comeback.

But memories of how it all went badly wrong last time will remain fresh at a club who have grown weary of false dawns. Eighteen months ago, a 5-1 thrashing at Anfield as leaders was followed by Arsenal eventually finishing third, behind Manchester City and Liverpool, although this time there appears to be a growing confidence among Wenger and his players that things could be different.

“I think we are stronger mentally this year,” Giroud said. “We are all fighting for each other. We have a great togetherness and we want to achieve big things all together. We are showing a lot of leadership, we have team meetings and we all want to contribute and bring qualities to the big matches. We are all looking in the same direction and we know we need to be 100% in every game.

“If someone is a bit tired then someone else will battle and fight for each other,” he added. “That’s the mentality we need to show through the season. If we carry on like that then we will be difficult to beat.”

The statistics certainly bear that out. Since the start of the year, Arsenal have been the most consistent side in the Premier League having won 20 of their 29 matches, drawing four and losing five. Even though he would not be tempted into admitting it just yet, Wenger knows he could finally have genuine title contenders on his hands. “It’s too early, the only thing I can say since 1 January 2015 we have shown consistency and this week we have shown consistency. That has been questioned many times by people.”

Cech’s role in their improvement should not be underestimated, however. Deulofeu’s equaliser six minutes from time in December 2013 in the same stadium gave Everton a point at a crucial stage of the season but this time he found the former Chelsea goalkeeper in his path.

The Spaniard, who has moved to Goodison Park on a permanent deal from Barcelona, had already provoked the anger of the home supporters when he was guilty of two theatrical dives before his big moment came. “He scored from a similar position last season and it felt that maybe it was right for him to score from that position again,” Roberto Martínez said.

The Everton manager added: “He’s a winner. He is a young man who has come into a very different game and he needs to understand the culture of the British game. But I love to see players who care and want to make things happen. He’s an emotional player and I don’t think he was disrespectful in any way. All he wanted was to get back into the game and I expected that he was probably going to get the best chance of the game. Nine times out of 10 he would have hit the back of the net.”

Everton face Norwich City in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday and Ross Barkley, who endured a frustrating evening despite his deflected goal just before half-time, said that the chance of silverware is their main focus this season. “It’s our aim to win something, we haven’t won anything for a while,” he said. “We’ve had a few good results in this competition and hopefully we can get the result we need against Norwich to put us through to the next round.”

Man of the match Mesut Özil (Arsenal)

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